The present invention disclosed herein relates to an apparatus for processing a substrate and a method of maintaining the apparatus.
Semiconductor devices are generally manufactured as follows: in a Fab process, electric circuits including electric devices are formed on a silicon wafer used as a semiconductor substrate; in an electrical die sorting (EDS) process, electric characteristics of semiconductor devices formed in the Fab process are inspected; and in a package assembly process, the semiconductor devices are respectively sealed with an epoxy resin and individually packaged.
The Fab process includes sub processes such as a deposition process for forming a film on a wafer, a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process for planarizing the film, a photolithography process for forming a photoresist pattern on the film, an etch process for etching the film by using the photoresist pattern to form a pattern having electric characteristics, an ion implantation process for implanting ions into predetermined regions of the wafer, a cleaning process for removing contaminants from the wafer, and an inspection process for inspecting the surface of the wafer on which the film or pattern is formed.
The photolithograph process includes a process of heating the wafer after coating the wafer with the photoresist, a process of heating the wafer after exposing the photoresist, and a process of heating the wafer after developing the photoresist. In addition, the photolithography process includes a cooling process for decreasing the temperature of the wafer after such a heating process.
A photolithography system includes a system constituted by a coating apparatus, a developing apparatus, and a baking apparatus; and a separate system for performing an exposing process. To use the space of equipment efficiently, the coating apparatus, the developing apparatus, and the baking apparatus of the photolithography system are arranged in multiple stages.
However, such a multi-stage structure makes it difficult to ensure a space necessary for repairing the inside of a processing apparatus, and thus it is difficult to perform a maintenance work.